Floodlight mounting device



Nov. 24, 1970 R. L. JONES 3,543,016

FLOODLIGHT MOUNTING DEVICE Filed March 8, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 j] fill/677756" Fafier/ d) Jam:

Nov.24, 1970 I LJONES 3,543,016

FLOODLIGHT MOUNTING DEVICE Filed March 8, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 4y wizzf United States Patent 3,543,016 FLOODLIGHT MOUNTING DEVICE Robert L. Jones, Hendersonville, N.C., assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Filed Mar. 8, 1968, Ser. No. 711,593 Int. Cl. F21p 5/00 US. Cl. 2403 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The support bracket of the floodlight is mounted on side wall of the floodlight by a separable trunnion pivot bearing having on its inner side a groove fitting over a complementary ridge on the wall to prevent rotation of the pivot bearing and having on its outer side a circular bearing on which the support bracket may rotate and a polygonal hub projecting from the circular bearing on which a degree scale fits for retention in a position fixed relative to the floodlight. The parts are held in assembly by a bolt extending into a threaded aperture in the floodlight wall with which the parts are axially aligned.

The present invention relates to lighting fixtures and more particularly to mounting means for fioodlights and the like.

Floodlights of known type have conventionally comprised a housing having integral trunnions projecting from opposite side walls on which a supporting bracket or yoke is swingably mounted, so that when the bracket is installed in fixed position on a supporting surface, the floodlight housing may be pivoted relative to the bracket for projecting the light in the desired direction or to facilitate re-lamping or other operations. The trunnion on one side of the housing also served to mount a degreemarker scale with associated repositioning stop, the arrangement being such that the scale is rotatable with the housing relative to the support bracket so that the angular adjustment of the floodlight could be readily and accurately determined.

A difiiculty encountered in the manufacture of such floodlights has been that the die casting molds in which the housings were formed required the use of separable sections or cores in the mold where the trunnions were formed and thus made necessary the employment of cumbersome core-pulling devices for removing these sections to enable the cast housing to be withdrawn from the mold cavity. As a result, the die casting process was relatively time-consuming and costly due to excessive mold maintenance and core replacement.

It is an object of the invention to provide improved mounting means for adjustable fioodlights and like apparatus which avoids the above disadvantages. It is a particular object of the invention to provide a floodlight housing with an improved trunnion bearing for pivotal mounting of a support bracket for the floodlight.

Another particular object of the invention is to provide a mounting device of the above-described type which incorporates an index scale for indicating the position of the floodlight housing relative to its support bracket.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a trunnion bracket mounting arrangement for a floodlight housing and the like which facilitates manufacture of the housing, particularly in a die cast molding process.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent from the following description and the appended claims.

With the above objects in view, the present invention in a broad aspect relates to a mounting arrangement comprising a housing having a wall portion formed with an opening, a trunnion member having opposite sides arranged with one side contiguous to and separably engaging the wall portion and having an aperture aligned with the opening in the wall portion, the one side of the trunnion member and the adjacent wall portion having mutually interfitting portions preventing relative rotation therebetween about the axis of the wall opening, the trunnion member on its opposite side being formed with a projecting hub having an inner circular portion and an outer polygonal portion, a support bracket having an aperture fitting over the inner hub portion and adapted to rotate thereon, and a scale member having an inner side formed with a polygonal recess complementary to and fitting on the polygonal hub portion for retaining the scale member in nonrotatable position relative to the trunnion member, and means releasably securing the assembly of the scale member, the support bracket and the trunnion member to the housing wall portions.

The invention will be better understood from the fol lowing description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of a floodlight in which the invention may be embodied;

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the parts of a floodlight trunnion mounting arrangement embodying the invention;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the inner side of the trunnion pivot bearing shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an elevational view of the outer side of the trunnion pivot bearing;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the trunnion pivot bearing taken along the line 5-5 in FIG. 4; and

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the trunnion mounting assembly secured to the floodlight housing.

Referring now to the drawings, and particularly to FIG. 1, there is shown a floodlight 1 in which the mounting device of the invention is embodied and which comprises a housing 2 having an open top defined by an upper edge lying in a plane and being closed at its top by cover 3, and having swingably attached thereto a yoke-shaped trunnion bracket 4 by which the housing may be mounted on a desired supporting surface. Housing 2 is releasably locked to bracket 4 by means of bolts 5, 5 on opposite sides thereof engaging threaded apertures in the housing side walls. On the right hand side of the floodlight, bolt 5 is shown in association with the trunnion and the degree scale of the mounting assembly of the invention. The bracket connection on the other side of the housing is ordinarily not equipped with such an assembly, the end of bracket 4 on that side simply being releasably secured in direct contact with the housing wall by bolt 5 as shown in FIG. 1.

The opposite side walls of housing 2 as viewed from the front converge downwardly somewhat, with the lower portion 2a having an increased taper as shown. In a usual process of manufacturing the floodlight, housing 2 is typically made of aluminum and is formed by die casting the molten aluminum in a mold, as well known in the art. The tapered form of the thus cast housing facilitates its withdrawal from the mold cavity, provided, however, that no laterally projecting trunnions are also formed on the housing as has been done in known types of floodlights. In accordance with the invention, such integrally formed trunnions are eliminated and the need for removable side sections of the mold and removing apparatus therefor is accordingly entirely dispensed with.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2, the housing side wall 2 is formed with a slightly raised surface 6 on which an elongated boss or ridge 7 is formed. Surface 6 and boss 7, although raised from the plane of housing side wall 2 nevertheless extend at angles inwardly of a vertical plane, that is, form angles less than relative to the plane of the top edge of housing 2, so as to still conform to the overall downwardly tapering form of the housing.

In a typical structure, the plane of the side wall of housing 2 extends about 5 to the vertical (i.e. with the floodlight in upright position), or in other words about 85 to the plane of the top of the housing, and the surfaces of raised portions 6 and 7 extend about 2 to the vertical (about 88 to the plane of the top edge). In general, such side wall surfaces should not be less than about 2 to the vertical in order to ensure sufiicient draft to enable ready removal of the cast housing from the mold.

A separable trunnion pivot bearing 8 is provided in accordance with the invention for releasable attachment to the side wall of housing 2 and for mounting bracket 4 and degree scale 9 in operative assembly with the housing. Separable bearing 8 has a main disc-shaped portion 8a which is formed on its inner side with a recess 8b complementary to the shape of the lower end of ridge 7 of the housing wall so as to receive the latter in a relatively close fit, with the remaining surface on the inner side of bearing 8 being contiguous to raised surface 6 of the housing. On its outer side, bearing 8 is formed with a projecting hub, of which the inner portion 80 is cylindrical and the outer portion 8d is polygonal. Bearing 8 is further formed with an axial aperture 8e extending therethrough.

With bearing 8 arranged in operative position in interfitting contact with housing 2, bracket 4 is positioned on the outer side of bearing 8 with its aperture 4a fitting freely over hub portion 80 of the latter in rotatable relation therewith. A circular degree-marker scale 9 is positioned over the outer side of bracket 4 and is formed with a polygonal recess 9a (see FIG. 6) on its inner side complementary to polygonal hub portion 8d for receiving and interfitting with the latter in operative assembly, so as to be non-rotatable relative to hearing 8. Scale member 9 is formed with an axial aperture 90 for receiving bolt 5 which also passes through the aligned apertures in bracket 4 and bearing 8 and into threaded aperture 7a of housing 2 for holding the parts in assembly, as shown in FIG. 6.

Releasably mounted on the periphery of scale member 9 by means of set screw 10 is a ring member =11 on which is formed a stop 12, ring member 11 being rotatable on scale member 9 for locating stop 12 in a desired circumferential position relative to the latter, where it is held by tightening screw 10. Stop 12 co-acts with pointer 13 fixed on bracket 4 for re-positioning the fioodlight, as hereinafter described.

With the trunnion mounting parts in operative assembly and bolt 5 tightened in threaded wall opening 7a, floodlight housing 1 is held in fixed position relative to bracket 4, which is usually secured at its bottom portion to a suitable supporting surface. In order to permit rotation of housing 2 relative to support bracket 4, e.g., for the purpose of aiming the fioodlight beam in a particular direction, bolts 5 and 5 are loosened sufficiently to allow such rotation of housing 2. During this rotation of the latter, trunnion bearing 8 and scale member 9 turn in fixed relation therewith by virtue of the mutually interfitting arrangements described, and as a result the degree markings on scale member 9 move relative to pointer 13 on bracket 4 which remains stationary. With the floodlight housing in the selected angular position, bolts 5 and 5' are tightened to hold the housing (and thereby scale member 9) in the new position. Ring member 11 is then moved around scale member 9 until stop 12 engages pointer 13 and screw 10 is tightened. Thereafter, should it be necessary to turn housing 2 relative to bracket 4 for any reason, such as putting it in a more accessible position for relamping or other maintenance service, housing 2 may be readily returned to its previous position simply by turning it until stop 12 again abuts pointer 13.

There is thus provided by the invention an improved mounting construction which employs a separable pivot bearing for avoiding the described manufacturing problems attendant on the use of prior types of pivot mounting structures used for adjustable apparatus such as fioodlights and the like.

Although in the particular embod-imentillustrated the housing wall 2 is formed with a ridge interfitting with a recess in bearing 8, these respective features may be reversed if desired. Thus, bearing 8 may be formed with a ridge extending across its inner surface and housing wall 2 may be formed with a complementary slot. In each case, the surfaces defining the recess or slot in the alternative embodiments extend substantially normal to the axis of rotation of the bracket so as to provide a positive stop, preventing relative rotation of the bearing 8 and housing wall 2 in the assembly, even though bolt 5 may be sufficiently loosened to permit rotation of bracket 4. In the case where housing wall 2 is formed with a slot for this purpose, it will be understood that the slot will be open at its lower end so as to enable the cast housing to be withdrawn from the mold, which in this case will have a complementary ridge for forming the slot.

While the present invention has been described with reference to particular embodiments thereof, it will be understood that numerous modifications may be made by those skilled in the art without actually departing from the scope of the invention. Therefore, the appended claims are intended to cover all such equivalent variations as come within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A mounting arrangement comprising a housing having a wall portion, a trunnion member having opposite sides arranged with one side contiguous to and separably engaging said wall portion, said one side of said trunnion member and the adjacent wall portion having mutually interfitting portions having abutting surfaces preventing relative rotation therebetween, said trunnion member on its opposite side being formed with a projecting hub, a support bracket having an opening fitting over said projecting hub and adapted to rotate thereon, and means releasably securing said support bracket and said trunnion member to said housing wall portion.

2. A device as defined in claim 1, wherein said wall portion and said trunnion member each have an opening axially aligned with 'said open-ing in said support bracket, said securing means comprising an elongated member passing through said openings and in releasable engagement with said wall portion.

3. A device as defined in claim 2, said housing having a top edge lying in a plane, the surface of said wall portion being at an angle of less than to said plane, said mutually interfitting portions comprising a. ridge on said wall portion and a complementary recess formed in said trunnion member.

4. A fioodlight comprising a housing having an open top with a top edge lying in a plane and having opposite downwardly converging side walls of which the entire external surfaces form angles of less than 90 to said plane, a trunnion member having opposite sides arranged with one side contiguous to and separably engaging the surface portion of one of said side walls, said one side of said trunnion member and the adjacent wall portion having mutually interfitting portions having abutting surfaces preventing relative rotation therebetween, said trunnion member on its opposite side being formed with a projecting hub, a support bracket having an opening fitting over said projecting hub and adapted to rotate thereon, and means releasably securing said support bracket and said trunnion member to said housing wall portion.

5. A device as defined in claim 4, wherein said wall portion and said trunnion member each have an opening axially aligned with said opening in said support bracket, said securing means comprising an elongated member passing through said openings and in releasable engagement with said wall portion, said mutually interfitting portions comprising a ridge on said wall portion and a complementary recess formed in said trunnion member.

6. A device as defined in claim 5, said projecting hub of said trunnion member having an inner circular portion 6 and outer polygonal portion, said support bracket References Cited fitting with its opening around said inner hub portion for UNITED STATES PATENTS rotation thereon, and a scale member having an inner side formed with a polygonal recess complementary to and fit- 2,327,820 8/1943 Rogers 240-4 ting on said polygonal hub portion and retaining said 3,149,785 9/1964 Appleton scale member in non-rotatable position relative to said 5 3,350,554 10/1967 Wood 240-3 trunnion member, said scale member being releasably secured by said securing means to the assembly of said sup- JOHN HORAN Exammer port bracket, said trunnion member, and said wall portion. R. M. SHEER, Assistant Examiner 

